What’s the secret Quality connection between Italy and Japan? The Pareto Chart! Signore Pareto provided his 80/20 rule and Dr. Ishikawa created the Pareto Chart and included it in his 7 Basic Quality Tools. Voila! (that’s French) An international pairing was born to help pave the problem-solving path. Vilfredo Pareto…
Fishbone + Ishikawa = Fishikawa! We know him best for this essential root cause tool, but did you know Dr. Ishikawa developed the first Kaizens, aka Rapid Improvement Events? And where would we be without his 7 Basic Quality Tools? Check out this Fishbone Webinar created in his honor and…
Who said “Quality is free, but it’s not a gift"? Who was the first non-doctor to create a vaccine? Who maintained that zero defects was the job of management as much as the front line? Philip Crosby! He said it was less expensive to do it right the first time…
Who put the “Six” in Six Sigma? Who’s the man behind the first Malcolm Baldrige Award and how did he get so good at betting on race horses? Mr. Smith is credited with coining the term “Six Sigma” and developing the signature process improvement method while serving as Vice President…
Do you have a hidden factory? Do you know employees who always have time to do it over but never time to get it right? Did you know organizations waste up to 40% of their capacity this way? Well, raise a glass to the quality guru who championed the capture…
He was a cigar-chomping, salty-tongued educator who wrote a manufacturing love story. Eli Goldratt left us way too soon but will always be appreciated as the man who constantly provoked people to truly think. Born in Israel, Mr. Goldratt was a physicist, a scientist, a doctor of philosophy and finally…
Dr. Deming was amazing, but who was his teacher? Who produced the PDCA Cycle? Who conceived of Statistical Process Control? The modest man behind the scenes, another fascinating product of the Hawthorne Works, was none other than Walter Shewhart. Born in Illinois, Mr. Shewhart was a physicist, engineer and a…
Who is the Grand Poobah of Toyota Production System? The Wizard of Lean? His Royal Eminence of Efficiency? Sure, he had some help, but Taiichi Ohno was the behind-the-scenes master of what is now known as Lean Manufacturing. Time to appreciate a significant quality forbear! Born in China, Mr. Ohno…
What do you know about Sakichi Toyoda? Did you know he was born on Valentine’s Day? That he started out in the textile business? That he came up with the 5 Whys root cause guessing game? Oh, and that he founded Toyota Industries Company!? Born in Japan, Mr. Toyoda was…
What do you call it when a garage door stops closing before it hits your head? The Hokey Pokey? No, a Poke-yoke! Lucky for us, Shigeo Shingo baked this mistake-proofing technique into the Toyota Production System and the rest is history. Mr. Shingo was an industrial engineer, an author and…